Psalm 51:1-17

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!3 Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me.4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone. I’ve committed evil in your sight. That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment.5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me.6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.8 Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.9 Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds!10 Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.12 Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you.14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.16 You don’t want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering, you wouldn’t be pleased.17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.

Psalm 51 has been the psalm for the first day of Lent, Ash
Wednesday, since the church’s beginnings. It is a prayer of
deep repentance, when we find ourselves able to do what Adam
and Eve would not. We ask not only for mercy, which we know
we already have,...

Loving God, may we acknowledge the extent of our sin so that we may ask for forgiveness and restoration. Amen.

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The texts for Ash Wednesday are all ominous in nature, pointing forward to the redemptive power of God’s grace. Lent is a time when Christians reflect on their mortality and sin, as well as on the creative and re-creative power of God. The original parents of humanity could not resist the seduction of the serpent, but that narrative stands beside the story of Jesus’ lonely and painful resistance to the power of Satan. In Romans, the “one man’s obedience” by which “the many will be made righteous” is the quality that endures. The Joel passage is an alarm bell in the darkness of the night. Those who are caught in this terrible moment cannot hope to save themselves, for they are powerless to do anything on their own behalf. They are powerless to do anything, that is, except to repent and to open themselves to God’s intervening mercy.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. What choices have you made that put you outside God’s intention for your life?
• Read Psalm 32. Are there unconfessed wrongdoings in your life that need God’s forgiveness? Will this Lent be a time when you can nd the freedom forgiveness brings?
• Read Romans 5:12-19. Have you experienced a relationship that has died? How has God renewed that time in your life?
• Read Matthew 4:1-11. What has tempted you to set faith aside and to trust only in yourself? How did that work out?

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"When I became a parent, I struggled to find God within the chaotic world where I now lived. I was used to contemplative prayer, to silence and service and listening for God’s still, small voice in quiet, hidden spaces. Suddenly none of my life felt quiet or hidden – it was all loud, messy, and exposed." Discover more.

—Lauren Burdette

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